I saw the light (Narvik, Norway)

Well good morning, dear reader and what a beautiful morning it is. Clear blue skies, calm seas, snow capped mountains either side of the ship. All rather picturesque. It is stunning country and unlike anything we have experienced previously. So much water. So much snow. So many mountains. It's not that cold, yet, it's still around the 3° mark.

Morning on the Ofotfjord.

We are still on our way to Narvik but last night we crossed into the Arctic Circle. The land of the midnight sun, or this time of year, the Aurora Borealis. The famed and elusive northern lights.

From the cabin balcony this morning.

I'm here to tell you I saw the light (one of my favourite Todd Rundgren songs from 1972, have a listen) from the ship. As we were sipping on our nightcap, the Captain announced the ethereal lights were visible from the bow. As luck would have it, we were sitting in the Explorer's Lounge in the bow. Armed only with my phone, out I went to see, well nothing. I fired off a couple shots and returned to the warmth of the lounge to see the northern lights shimmering at me from the photo. What I couldn't see, the camera could. An exciting moment, if not a spectacular one.

The first sighting.

We had not long returned to the cabin when the announcement came over again. This time the lights were off the starboard bow. Damn. We're on port. Gather the warm gear, the pre-set camera attached to the tripod and out we go. People were converging from everywhere, leaving dinner, leaving partners and heading for the bow to catch a glimpse of the lights.

The second coming.

The lights were more visible this time, although they resembled light cloud. I set the camera up on the tripod and tried to photograph the lights. No deal. Black screen was all I was getting. We returned to the phone. We captured plenty of images but they are all a bit grainy.

1am with phone from the balcony.

What an excellent beginning to the chase. Back to the cabin to check the camera settings and make some minor adjustments, we laid out our warm clothes just in case the call came in the night. And come it did, just before 1am and before we had crossed into the Arctic Circle. This time the lights were all around us and we successfully photographed from the balcony with the camera. The result is much clearer pictures.

The 1am sighting. Sky shot. Camera.

This bodes well for future excursions, chasing the lights on land, where we will have the luxury of setting up the camera before the lights arrive. It should also enable the use of some foreground rather than just shooting the sky.

From balcony with camera.

Still buzzing. It was amazing - what starts out as some grey misty cloud can suddenly take on any colour from the spectrum and the cloud dances it was across the horizon. And I'm still learning about exposure, for the camera, not me. Hopefully my pictures will improve.

Narvik

Aside from the World War II battle, Narvik's claim to fame is its deep water harbour that never freezes over. Which led to it being used as a major exporting point for Swedish iron ore. We aren't in port very long, docking at 2pm and being underway again before midnight to accommodate the travellers who have opted for longer shore experiences.

Picturesque views on the fjord.

The outside temperature is 2° but the wind chill is making it feel like 0°. Our excursion is to explore Narvik, and part of this is done on a bus. So deciding what to wear is a little problematic. Despite seeing full hooded anoraks at lunch today, I'm opting for thermals under my regular clothes, adding a scarf, light gloves and a beanie. Jayne is wearing her snow jacket as the outer layer and her snow boots. I didn't buy snow boots so I'm wearing my Scarpas with merino wool socks. It is exhausting just getting dressed.

The iron ore loader.

Our shore excursion and subsequent activity is limited by our advanced booking for dinner at Manfredi's this evening. We need to be on the dock at 3:25pm for a 2 hour tour. Most of the touristy things in Narvik close by 5pm so, aside from a wander around town on foot, it will be back to the ship for us.

The Tour

The tour itself was mostly on the bus. While I understand the need for this, given the demographic of the passengers and lack of mobility for some, the attempt to minimise contact with the snow and ice resulted in a very ho hum excursion.

There are numerous interesting sculptures throughout Narvik but we stopped at none of them. Instead we visited not one, but two churches. You can imagine how thrilled I was dear reader. I shall return to this theme shortly. The first church was made of stone and was in town. Neither of us remember its claim to fame aside from the fact that is was Lutheran. Hardly surprising in this region.

Impressive? Nah.

Next stop was the railway station, the Arctic trainline, the lifeblood for Sweden's iron ore. Here we were met by a female choir who sang three songs in Navvy. The train line was quite a feat of engineering given the weather conditions. The songs seemed to be too joyful for the work of the original singers. A tad too cheerful. Not enough oomph and struggle was evident.

Standing listening to the choir was the first time that we had felt the cold starting to creep in. It didn't last long before we were back on the bus and heading for the next church, sailing past all the interesting sculptures.

The choir. Some dressed in 'traditional' fur coats.

This church is octagonal. Buzz buzz. It's claim to fame aside from the shape, was that it was made of wood which allowed it to survive the shelling of WWII because the shells passed through one wall and out the other. Not content with gathering us inside the church, our guide handed out hymn books and insisted we join him in a rendition of Amazing Grace. Like really?

The wooden octagonal church. Excitement plus.

According to Wikipedia: "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779, written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both religious and secular purposes.

Aptly named, BIFROST

I know they are catering to the majority of their audience, but ... not happy. Particularly when the sculptures remained unexplained and unexplored. We did have time to walk back into the town after the tour, but it was dusk and the ice would be more difficult to see. Safety first this time.

Narvik.

Manfredi's

As I mentioned earlier there are 4 restaurants on board. Two of them are 'bookings only' venues complete with the 'no jeans or joggers' dress code. Manfredi's is their signature Italian restaurant. The earliest booking I could get was 8:30pm. That is past our bedtime.

There is really little point in delving into what was on the menu.  Overrated and underwhelming will suffice as a description for the night. Thankfully we were interrupted by the call of a light's sighting. Not as good as the previous night, but it got us out of the restaurant.

Until next time and Tromsø.